University had appealed ruling in favor of Lulu Sun, who alleged she was passed over for a promotion because of her race and gender.

Michael Gagne Herald News Staff Reporter @HNMikeGagne

DARTMOUTH — A three-year appeals process over a discrimination complaint that was originally filed a decade ago by a longtime University of Massachusetts Dartmouth English Department faculty member has now cost the university nearly $1.2 million.

Lulu Sun, who is currently listed on the UMass Dartmouth website as an associate professor in the English Department, filed complaints in 2004 and 2006 with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. Sun alleged she was denied a promotion because of both her gender and race.

In June 2011, the commission ruled in Sun’s favor, saying evidence showed “the deck was stacked against Complainant in her bid to become a Full Professor.” The commission cited instances in which other comparably qualified faculty members had received promotions and also cited apparent retaliatory action taken by administrators at the time against Sun for not withdrawing her request for a promotion and for taking steps to file a discrimination complaint.

In that decision, MCAD ordered UMass Dartmouth to promote Sun to a full professor position and pay her $154,503.30 in owed back pay, based on the difference in annual salary between the two positions. That difference was about $22,000 a year.

The commission also awarded Sun $200,000 in damages for emotional distress, and levied a $10,000 civil penalty against the university. The decision further ordered that campus officials undergo training on discrimination.

“The Complainant’s attempt to climb to the highest rung of the academic ladder was stymied by decisions which held her to different and higher standards than those applied to her counterparts who were not Asian females,” the ruling read.

It concluded that Sun was “subjected to disparate treatment by an administration which indulged in every presumption against her candidacy while, at the same time, extending every benefit of the doubt to similarly situated comparators who did not belong to Complainant’s protected groups.”

University officials appealed parts of that decision, challenging the damages assessed for distress, as well as the civil penalty levied and the requirement that UMass Dartmouth administrators undergo training on discrimination.

The new ruling based on the appeals was issued in May and upholds the 2011 decision. It further mandated UMass pay more than $500,000 in legal fees, plus $300,000 in interest and other penalties.

UMass Dartmouth spokesman John Hoey said the university will not appeal that ruling.

The university “is complying with the commission’s order and carefully reviewing the underlying facts of the case — all of which predate the current administration — to determine if changes in its tenure and promotional processes are warranted,” Hoey said in a statement. “UMass Dartmouth remains deeply committed to equal opportunity at all levels of its workforce.”

UMass Dartmouth’s directory has been updated to show that Sun has received full professor status, although the English Department Web page still has her listed as an associate professor.

Sun, who is of Chinese descent, joined the faculty at UMass in 1994, first as an assistant professor. After three years, she was promoted to associate professor, and after applying, received tenure, according to the orginal 51-page written decision delivered in June 2011 by MCAD.

Sun, according to that decision, was well-regarded by her colleagues as a “dedicated, careful, and enthusiastic teacher and advisor, [who] consistently earns strong praise from her students.”

In 2003, Sun sought full professor status and received a recommendation from the then-English Department chairperson, who forwarded it to Michael Steinman, then the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

But according to the decision, Steinman denied recommending to then-Provost Louis Esposito that Sun receive full professor status, while recommending full status to similarly qualified professors during the same time.

Steinman reportedly stated during a November 2003 meeting with Sun that it would be an “embarrassment” to forward her dossier to the provost. He then asked her “to withdraw her application, suggested that she take it with her when she left the meeting,” patted her on the back and said, “It’s OK, Lulu,” according to the original ruling.

That ruling also notes that Esposito and then-UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean MacCormack gave similar statements about Sun’s apparent lack of qualifications in denying the request for a promotion.

Steinman, who is currently employed as interim provost and vice president of academic affairs at Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, New Jersey, did not respond to a phone message left at his office on Monday seeking comment.